Yar’Adua’s illness eclipsed our achievements – President

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Monday said the controversies set off by the illness and the eventual, death of his late boss, Umaru Yar’Adua, eclipsed the achievements of the administration.

Jonathan spoke during the presentation of the book, Power, Politics and Death, to him by its author, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, in Abuja. Adeniyi, a former editor of THISDAY, was the spokesman for the Yar’Adua presidency.

Jonathan said Yar’Adua, the nation’s third executive President who died of kidney related complications on May 5, 2010, recorded a number of achievements. He added that the achievements were “reduced to mere footnotes in the history of the country” because of the late President’s illness and death.

“Rather than the achievements, Yar’Adua’s death became the main issue,” he said.

The book, covering the internal workings of the Yar’Adua administration, will be presented to the public on Tuesday (today).

According to Jonathan, the death of Yar’Adua should not have generated more attention than the achievements of the administration. He said that the contributions of individuals while alive were more critical than their death.

The President commended Adeniyi for documenting the events of the last administration, saying the book would end up generating more follow-up books from other key actors in the administration.

He said, “I believe this book will attract a lot of interests. I believe journalists will want to read it quickly.

“ It makes me to remember the accounts of the civil war. The first account that came out was ‘My command’ written by Olusegun Obasanjo. The second came out and Ojukwu now published his own account, ‘Because I was involved.’

“I know that when people read this book, maybe some of the key actors will also come out with their accounts because they were involved.”

Adeniyi had  told Jonathan that he decided to write the book because the narrative of Yar’Adua’s administration had been reduced to his illness and death.

“I believe that there is more to the Yar’Adua Presidency of which you (Jonathan) were an integral part than his illness and death.

“There were a couple of things that were done and I felt that I should document them. Even the narrative of his illness and death, because of the politics involved, I don’t believe the accounts have been accurate. I decided to put the record straight as somebody who witnessed some of the drama,” he said.

Adeniyi said he decided to bring a copy of the book to the President ahead of the Tuesday public presentation as a mark of honour.